New Professional ...

ASCA 2016 Case Study Competition Graduate/New Professional Case Study You are the Coordinator of Student Conduct at a mid-sized, public, four-year research institution in an urban city. Your institution is a residential campus with around 7,000 on campus, and another 5,000 in close-by apartment complexes. You often receive and meet with students regarding alcohol and/or drugs violations. During your high volume season you could meet with up to 10 students in a day, with each having a 30-minute meeting. Today is one of those days and you have a packed calendar of students from this past weekend’s football game. The meeting with your next student is in the middle of the day, after one student and before another. You receive the following report from the housing and residence life staff: Incident description On August 28, 2015 at 2:25 AM Resident Assistant Sarah Evans stepped outside of the Community Office in Red Hall and noticed that there were flashing lights present in parking lot near Yellow Hall. Once arriving to the parking lot, RA Evans found two emergency response vehicles: a fire truck (County Fire Rescue) and a red truck marked “Police Battalion.” RA Evans approached two Fire Rescue officers to ask them if there was an incident involving housing; the Fire Rescue officer told RA Evans that there was nothing involving the building; RHAP Evans asked if there was a resident transported and the Fire Rescue officer told RA Evans that he could not tell him that. At 2:35 AM RA Evans called the non-emergency police department line. RA Evans asked the PD dispatcher if there had been an incident near Yellow Hall. The police dispatcher confirmed that there was a medical transport. A resident had been transported to the Emergency Room after an initial call was received by PD at1:53 AM. It was later discovered that the student was transported due to drug use in his room. Furthermore, the housing coordinator told you that the RA was having a difficult time connecting with the student and the floor has often felt uneasy by his presence but did not state why. Meeting with the Student: During your meeting with the student, you begin this meeting getting to know the student. During this time, the student discloses that this is his first semester at college, and he is from a small town around two hours from campus. He is very close with his family, and has three younger siblings. He is not yet involved, but enjoys spending time with his roommates. You begin to talk about the incident and the student stated that he took a few edibles containing cannabis. You begin to inquire about his use and he states that he has smoked since high school, and smokes regularly once he started college. He stated that he began to smoke to escape from his home life and also disclosed that he recently served a tour of duty in the Army and now is attempting to earn his degree. The student did not disclose that he was depressed but has talked about previous thoughts of suicide and stated that he had similar feelings last week. Furthermore, the student is worried about losing his housing (as the campus has a zero tolerance policy for substance use in the

residence hall) and he is worried about his parents finding out as he feels that he would be disowned from his family if they knew about his drug use. Before you conclude your meeting: The director is not in the office, what are the next steps that you take? What are the major issues and/or areas of concern here? What do we, as an office need to do right now to respond? Are there other offices/departments you would contact and why? If so, who would you contact and how will you proceed with their involvement to ensure a prompt and through response to these concerns? What would be the sanctions that you would assign to this student based on your conversation and incident?